Sacred Motherhood: An Inspirational Guide and Journal for Mindfully Mothering Children of All Ages Book Review

Sacred Motherhood: An Inspirational Guide and Journal for Mindfully Mothering Children of All Ages

I received this book free to facilitate this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

Anni Daulter is the founder of the Sacred Living Movement and the author of several books including Sacred Pregnancy: A Loving Guide and Journal for Expectant Moms. She also hosts holistic, life altering retreats and workshops. She is viewed as the Martha Stewart of the birth world, making the whole pregnancy and birth experience extra special for mama and baby. Anni is mother to 4 children, Zoe, Lotus Sunshine, Bodhi Ocean, & River Love and she is happily married to her soul mate, Tim Daulter.

In one of her recent books, Sacred Motherhood: An Inspirational Guide and Journal for Mindfully Mothering Children of All Ages, she and author Niki Dewart to reconnect with yourself when mothering gets stressful. Part journal and part guide, this book takes a little bit out of the day to day rush of life around us to read, reflect, and write. The thoughtful prompts and beneficial reminders help mothers unwind and reestablish inner peace before going back to their important endeavors of motherhood.

Gorgeous photography in Sacred Motherhood.

This book is an exquisite creation of gorgeous photographs and uplifting words. It takes one on a beautiful journey of self-meditation and contemplation. The pictures mostly show empowered women in Goddess looking attire and adornment and adorable children and babies. Anni Daulter and Niki Dewart have combined their infinite wisdom of pregnancy, birthing, parenting, and living consciously in this lovely book. Their inspiration and celebration of motherhood echoes deeply in the pages of this text. Whether you are having a maiden voyage or are a seasoned traveler of motherhood, the journey that Sacred Motherhood takes you is both nurturing and healing to body, mind, and spirit. Even though the lessons and photography lean towards Eastern Philosophy and The Divine Feminine, this book can also be personalized to whatever spiritual or religious practice you follow.

A journal page in Sacred Motherhood.

I love how each part of this book correlates with the rhythm of the seasons starting with spring and ending with winter. The book is divided out into 52 weeks with each of the four parts having 13 chapters. Each illuminating chapter as seven sections: You, Your Soul, Your Child, Reflections, Sacred Motherhood Practice, Ideas, and Pairings. After these there are a few journal pages to write thoughts. I love the ideas that the authors give to help celebrate the momentous events of motherhood: from ceremonial baths to art creations to gardening with your children to having a spa day; these help the bonds of motherhood become stronger. The pairings are so much fun too. These span: herbal allies, music, books, movies, flower essences, crystals, colors, classes, trainings, and retreats. Sacred Motherhood also has some recipes for: oils, sprays, teas, etc. Every offering is one of love and passion to inspire you to be mindful while on your motherhood journey.

This book is a treasure. It now has a permanent place by my bedside so that I can refer to it often. I recommend this to mothers everywhere!  This book would be a perfect baby shower gift.

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DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received this product for free to facilitate this review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

Beyond the Sling by Mayim Bialik, PhD Review and Giveaway

When I was younger I loved watching a show called Blossom. You may remember it yourself. The 1990s sitcom starred Mayim Bialik as Blossom Russo, a teenage girl living with her father and two brothers. I remember loving Blossom's and Six's (her best friend) fashion sense on the show. I loved their flower hats and funky, vibrant-colored clothes. They had neat names too and liking them was probably one of the reasons I also picked unique names for my children. The star of the show Mayim Bialik now plays the role of the geeky neurobiologist Amy Farrah Fowler on one of my favorite TV series, Big Bang Theory.

Before Big Bang Theory, Mayim did some unconventional things with her life. She didn't follow the typical child star life choices. She got a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA, married her college sweetheart and had two boys. After having kids she sought answers on how to best parent them as they grew and found a parenting style called attachment parenting best suited her. She then wrote a book called "Beyond the Sling" to tell about her findings.

I was able to read and keep Beyond the Sling by Mayim Bialik, PhD for free for a review here on my blog. For those of us with a background in Attachment Parenting (AP) this book is a wonderful refresher. For the rest it is great parenting advice and for anyone wanting to know more about how AP works this is a great book. Mayim tells us her experiences with AP and what worked for her. This book isn't saying anyone has to be a perfect parent. Instead it calls parenting the most natural and instinctual event on the planet and that the principles of attachment parenting are innate.

Mayim says we should follow our instincts and try to learn to "speak baby". This made me think of Dr. Who, of which I am a big fan, where he tells Alfie's father that he speaks baby. Yes...I know I am a total geek :) I can't always understand what my littlest is saying in words but she does try to tell me what she wants or needs in other ways and I need to better "speak baby". You'd think after 5 kids I would have the baby speak down. Yes, even I need to be more in tune. I know there are definite areas that I need to improve upon in parenting, spending more time listening to my kids is one of them.

My kids love my attention, they relish it! They love for me to do things with them. This is one reason why I do Attachment Parenting, AP, and love it. AP usually means different things to different people. Some practice more extremely than others. I am not totally "crunchy" in my methods. What do I do? I keep my boys uncircumcised, breastfeed my babies usually until they self wean, baby wear, have cloth diapered and practiced co-sleeping, and homeschool. I am also trying out gentle discipline. I also practice natural parenting because I feel it goes hand in hand with AP. I love to buy organic, all natural, nontoxic, biodegradable, eco-friendly, local and/or sustainable products every chance I get; I teach my kids about reducing, reusing, re-purposing and recycling; and we grow our own fruits, vegetables, herbs and natural remedies in our very own garden with which we also collect rain water and compost for. This is all how I parent the best. I know that parenting is going to be different for different people.

Even though parenting is different for everyone it still shouldn't be rocket science. This book tells us that good intuition is all we need in parenting. Listening to what your family needs and adjusting around those needs, not the other way around. Prioritizing your life around your family is important. Your children need you now and you will never get the first years of life back. For some this is a guilt trip...it really shouldn't be.

This book also goes into birth, breastfeeding, babywearing and holding your child, co-sleeping, elimination communication, gentle discipline and so much more. I have had power struggles lately with my older kids and the chapter on gentle discipline really helped me realize how to better approach things. I really hadn't thought about it, but I was gravitating towards how my parents had disciplined me when I was young, a lot of yelling and fighting back and forth was therefore involved. I felt powerless because my kids wouldn't listen to me, but it was really that I wasn't listening to them and their needs. Yelling at them wasn't getting me anywhere. I am trying to now hold my temper and my tongue and listen more. Slowly but surely everything seems to be running more smoothly and efficiently in my home because of this little refresher in gentle discipline.

BUY IT:
Purchase it on Amazon.com for $14.62.

WIN IT:
Prize: Win a copy of Beyond the Sling by Mayim Bialik, PhD

I am trying out Rafflecopter on my blog. Please click on this post link if you do not see the script for it below. Also, if there is anything that is wrong with it let me know by emailing me: finamoon AT gmail DOT com I will try my best at fixing it. Thanks for being awesome readers!

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: Thanks to Mayim's PR for sending me product for free to review and one to give away for free. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review.

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Pear Tree Greetings Secret's Out! Baby Contest and $25 Giveaway

Pear Tree Greetings has just launched their new baby collection of cards and birth announcements! They are adorable and you will definitely want to share your new bundle of joy with one of these announcements. They have everything from self-mailers to ribbon announcements that your friends and family could display from their mantle or fridge. With this launch of their new collection comes their Secret's Out! Baby Contest where you could win their grand prize of a $1,000 Visa Gift Card to spend on baby, or be one of ten winners to receive a $100 credit toward baby announcements at Pear Tree Greetings! It’s a video, photo or essay contest for both moms and moms-to-be and you share how you told friends and family you were expecting – was it funny, memorable or sentimental? They've already had a few great entries already, but if you want to be in the running for the $1,000 you need to gather votes by socially sharing your entry before August 31st.

The coupon this month is their promo code page with great deals on kids cards, stationery and a coupon for any order!

WIN IT:
Dani & Christy from Pear Tree Greetings has generously offered $25 to use on anything in the Pear Tree store for one of my readers to win, whether you choose birth announcements, party invitations or even holiday photo cards – yes, I said it, we’re thinking about Christmas in July!

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1. Go to the Pear Tree Greetings webpage and tell me by commenting on this post what you want to get with the $25 if you win.

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Make sure you leave me your email in all posts so that I can contact you. Don't forget to leave a comment for each task and the correct amount of entries for each task. This contest ends on Friday August 5, 2011 at midnight (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada). This Giveaway is open to all 18 years and over in the U.S. Only!!

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: Thanks to Pear Tree Greetings for providing me this promotion information and giveaway free for my readers. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else.